Music news

The Agony and the Ecstasy with Mount Kimbie, Julio Bashmore, MØ and 'Nye's latest tricks

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Mount Kimbie - “You Took Your Time featuring King Krule”

King Krule’s glowering stream of consciousness casts a bleak timbre across Mount Kimbie’s rich guitar-laden synth construction. An uncompromising blend reflected in this meditative black and white film by Sweden’s Marcus Söderlund. A series of arresting, hypnotic portraits that draw you in to the already fading inner lives of outer suburban teens. “You Took Your Time” is the third single to emerge from the exceptional Cold Spring Faultless Youth record recently released on Warp. You can watch Mount Kimbie’s Dom Maker and Kai Campos discussing its creation with us here.

TRACK OF THE WEEK: Sampha - “Without”

Young Turks announced Sampha’s debut EP, “Dual”, with this playful, enrapturing self-produced track yesterday. That Sampha has a voice that induces paroxyszms of sheer glee in all ears is news to no one after his many features on SBTRKT and others’ releases, but the assurance that he is also a supremely talented, young producer and songwriter in his own right is very welcome indeed.

ALBUM STREAM OF THE WEEK:Snow Ghosts - “A Small Murmuration”

Wonderfully anachronistic in feel, the first full length from the pairing of Throwing Snow and August Ghost pulls your mind across centuries as you try to grasp its flittering soul. Blending a vibrant swell of strings, synth and drum pads, it wrong-foots your ears in the most bewitching way. The third track, “Secret Garden”, is especially entrancing. It would be advisable to take the entire thing for a long walk through a sun-dappled cemetery very soon.

MOST TROLLED / BIGGEST TROLL OF A RELEASE: Julio Bashmore - "Duccy"

“Duccy” has been alternately deemed a future classic, and “a cretinous dose of bilge-house” designed to troll the audience by critics and public alike. The PMR house maestro has also stirred more SoundCloud comment vitriol than anyone thought was possible without posting a psy-trance banger rammed full of samples of the mewls of dying kittens, making it nigh-on impossible not to want to check this newest offering from Julio Bashmore and decide for yourself.

REMIX OF THE WEEK: MØ - “Waste of Time” (FTSE Fucked It Mix)

FTSE producer Sam Mindvall has interwoven his own melancholy, resigned vocals through the most promising of Danish pop talent MØ's “Waste of Time”. Having dispatched with the urgent synth lines, he pulls in low throbbing bass beats and adds further pathos-inducing narrative in his warm, despondent tones. Two fractured souls finding solace in a pop gem.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: Kiwi - "Llama"

The second release from DEEP SHIT – Jack Savidge and Edwin Congreave’s label – makes you want to race for any surface that could pass as a dance floor within the first five seconds. The thumping, sensual disco beats spread through your body and build to a devilishly satisfying climax. Having done the rounds as a white label this is the Durr resident’s Kiwi, a.k.a Alex Warren’s first proper release, and one that will doubtless shortly be soundtracking a heap of summer night revelry.

NEW DISCOVERY OF LAST WEEK, THE ONE THAT DIDNT COUNT AS GLASTONBURY TEMPORARILY STALLED OUR MINDS: Hockeysmith - “Now I Want To”

You’d expect the debut track from Hockeysmith – two Cornish, caravan-dwelling sisters – to involve at least some sort of acoustic jangles or instruments made of dairy perhaps, but this understated, ethereal lament with a powerfully intoxicating core merely foreshadows a delightful future of deceptively delicate-seeming, spacious, synth-laden tracks to sweep you off your feet. Can’t hardly wait.

CGI SIXPACK OF THE WEEK: Kanye West - "Black Skinhead"

Kanye continues to fancy himself as a 21st century Hieronymus Bosch character in the spiky greyscale video for "Black Skinhead", the first 'official single' (whatever that means at this point) from Yeezus. It's a maximalist Daft Punk-produced riot that pays rhythmic homage to Gary Glitter's "Rock ' Roll" and Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People", and has all the subtlety of a Givenchy T-shirt. After all the hip-hop holograms, we wonder if the next big rap trend is who can rock the most thugged-out CGI sixpack? Let's hope Rick Ross isn't tempted to follow suit.